Electric signaling apparatus



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. B. PRICE. ELEGTRIG SIGNALING APPARATUS-No. 545,815. Patented Sept. 3,1895.

INV NTOR Magi;

- ATTORNEYS (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet '2.

'BQPRIOEQ ELEUTRIG SIGNALING APPARATUS. No. 545,815. A Patented Sept.3,1895.

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' BENJAMIN PRICE, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELECTRICSELECTOR AND SIGNAL COMPANY, OF WEST VIRGINIA.

ELECTRIC SIGNALING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,81 5,1datedSeptember 3, 1895.

Application filed April 24, 1894.

transmitted impulses, of which the following is a specification.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the. invention, of which Figure 1is a view of a wheel or sector havin g a forward progressive movementand pro- :5 vided with open keys or key-bars and showing a single fingerfor working out the combination; Fig. 2, a View of a wheel or sectorwith solid key-bars; Fig. 3, a view of finger adapted to arrest themovement of sector by fractional pressure; Fig. 4, an enlarged side viewof wheel or sector with keys provided with an inclined plane tocooperate with finger and automatically adjust the sector to a fixedstarting and stopping place with each impulse. Fig. 5 is a side view ofsector operated by doublefingers entering the keys of sector fromopposite sides. This figure shows the fingers open and thesectorreleased. Fig. 6 is a view of another form of sector 0 with singlefinger for working out the combination and means for restoring thesector to starting-point when the finger passes between the keys; Fig.7, a view of sector spread out and finger resting upon one of the keys;Fig.

- 5 8, a View of sector with keys and vibrating finger to enter the keysand space certain of the impulses; Fig. 9, aview of a sector spread outand provided with keys having inclined planes thereon to co-operate withthe finger and adjust itself to a fixed stopping and starting place;Fig. 10, a section of sector, showing a key with a finger restingthereon; Fig. 11, the same as Fig. 5, with the fingers closed and thesector stopped.

In Letters Patent of the United States granted to AdinA. Hatch, No.403,104, there is shown and described a signaling apparatus having awheel or sector, to which is imparted a normal forward movement, whichstarts upon this movement whenever this sector is released and isstopped by the armature-lever Serial No. 508,807. (No model.)

in its movements and released again to pursue its course. Upon thiswheel or sector is cut, stamped, or otherwise secured a series of keysor key-bars intended to designate dots '55 and dashes or dots and spacesof electrical impulses, and the keys represent a fixed or selectedcombination which responds to these impulses sent out by atransmitting-instrument, which may be an ordinary telegraphkey or anautomatic transmitting-instrument; Upon such a wheel or sector there arealso intervals between the key-bars to allow one of theoperating-fingers to pass through and in its passage impart movement tomechanism for restoring the sector to its starting point. Upon thisHatch instrument, which is selected only asa representative of a classofinstruments, the keys or key-bars are shown in the form of staplesinclosing a definite space, and the side lines or walls of this inclosedspace intercept the finger or fingers operated by the armature-lever tostop the progressive forward movement of the sector by contacting with ahook or bent portion of 5 the finger or by contacting with a vibratingfinger which enters the inclosed space and is impelled by and moves withthe sector a given distance until it comes to a full stop. When one ofthese fingers passes through one of the spaces between the keys, itimparts movement to mechanism for restoring the sector to itsstarting-point.

The drawings also show-as, for example, in Fig. 1, 2, 1, 5, and 1lawheel having notches of different depths cut in its periphery andoperating and coacting with two fingers which enter the open spaces fromopposite sides and arrest the progressive movement of the wheel bycontacting with the side walls of the 0 inclosing spaces. These figuresalso show notches of greater depth than the others, through which one ofthe fingers is allowed to pass when a wrong combination is sent, and, asin the case of Hatch, it imparts move- 5 ment to mechanism to restorethe sector to its starting-point.

Viewing Figs. 1, 5, and 11 of the drawings, A is an electromagnetsuitably mounted and imparts movement to its armature d by the moclosing of the circuit through its coils. The

armature acting upon a lever, as 662, attracts this lever. On its end isa toothed rack (0 which meshes with a pinion attached to the sector.

B is a wheel or sector to which a. forward progressive movement is givenby the lever 61.2 and rack a Upon the periphery of this sector (viewingFig. 1) is cut a series of notches, some of which are deeper than theothers. When the combination is worked out, the finger hereinafterdescribed rests upon the bases of the shallow notches, and should itfail the finger passes through one of the deeper notches and actuates ashunt by which the current is cut off from the coils of the magnet A,when the sector is retracted and thrown to its startingpoint by thespring a This device is usually worked with two fingers, as shown inFigs. 5 and 11, and marked 0 and c. The finger C is an extension of thearmature-lever D, and c is in the form of a pivoted lever, having itsshort arm connected with the armature-leverD by alink, as 0 Thearmature'lever D is operated by impulses transmitted through the coilsof the magnet E, and in response to said impulses the fingers enter thenotches and hold the sector until released. The upper end of the lever cis provided with a blade, as 0 which passes in and out of the notches,alternately holding and releasing the sector in response to theimpulses, and the projection O on the end of the armature-lever D willonly pass through the deep notches of the sector, and in passing strikesabar, as c, which operates mechanism to open the circuit around themagnet A and allow the sector to be returned to its starting-point. Suchan instrument may be said to be operated upon a closed circuit as themagnet A through its levers is imparting a progressive movement to thesector when its circuit is closed and the sector is thrown back when thecircuit is open.

The drawings also illustrate an apparatus operated upon open circuit, asshown in Fig. 6. In such case the forward movement to the sector isimparted by a spring or weight, as shown at a of'Fig. 6. The magnet Eoperates its armature-lever D through the impulses received from thetransmitting-instrument, which, like the case above described, isprovided on its end with a finger or projection 0, which is bent on itsend and enters within key-bars and stops the sector by contact with thesides of the keys. When this finger passes through the open spacesbetween the keys, it strikes upon the rod 0, closes the circuit, as at 0through the magnet A, which attracts its armature-lever a operating uponthe link a, which in turn is attached to a projection a on thesector-shaft and returns the sector to its starting-point.

In both cases the device operates with open key-barsand depends upon thesides of the openings to co-operate with the fingers in stopping thesector or wheel.

In the devices shown and described the working of the instrument issometimes unsatisfactory. For example, an instrument which worksperfectly for .some time will occasionally failthat is to say, when aselected combination is transmitted to the instrument to which thatparticular combination is adapted the finger will sometimes fall throughone of the intermediate spaces and return the wheel or sector to itsstarting-point before the combination is entirely worked out. 'When anautomatic transmitting-instrument is used, this does not occur as oftenas when the combination is transmitted by an operator using the ordinaryMorse key. The causes for this may perhaps reside in the fact that theopertor may not gage his spaces in exact conformity with the travel ofthe wheel or sector, or else the transmitting-instrument may not move inexact time with the sector, or the contacts and spaces of thetransmitting-instrument may not conform in length with those on thesector. In either event the finger may touch upon the key-bar, andshould this bar be rough or uneven on its surface it would hold thesector without sliding upon the key-lever until its hook or shouldercaught against the side wall of thekey. At the next impulse the distancefrom its proper position would be increased and at the next would.

miss the key and drop through the space, or the finger might slide onlya part of the way on the key-bar and thus lose its proper relativeposition.

One object of my invention is to dispense with the necessity of the sidewalls and arrange the device so that it may be stopped simply byfrictional pressure upon the key, and thus enable me to perform the workwith a solid key-bar as well as an open one.

Another object of the invention is to dispense with one of the fingersand work out the combination without the aid of the sec ond finger, andanother object is to so arrange or construct the instrument toco-operate with the finger that a positive starting and stopping pointmay be obtained automatically, giving a fixed and determined distance oftravel to the sector or wheel. with each impulse.

My invention will apply to any of the forms of sector or wheel.

In Fig. 3 there is shown a finger which is roughened upon its end or maybe provided with a frictional pad of india-rubber or other material,which, when in contact with the key, would hold it where it touched, orboth the finger and key bar may be provided with a pad or otherwiseroughened. Now, in cases where the movements of the sector or wheel andthe transmitting-instrument are synchronous or in exact time with eachother, or approximately exact, and the structure of the contacts andintermediate spaces of the transmitting instrument conforms to thestructure of the key-bars on the wheel or sector, such an arrangement toprevent sligping of the finger when in contact with the keys would workthe combination through to the endand without the use of the secondfinger. So, also, an expert operator may work the combination throughwith an ordinary telegraph-key used as a transmitting-instrument, thususing a single finger and solid keybar, if desired. 7

Figs. 2, 6, 7, and 10 show a sector with solid key-bars and singlefinger for working the combination.

Figs. 4 and 9 show different views of a sector, having its keysconstructed to co-operate with afinger, so as to arrest the progressivemovement of the wheel or sector at a fixed point. The spaces between thekey-bars being equal, or nearly so, the single key-bars beingconstructed of approximately equal length and the double ones the lengthof two singleones, it is evident that a sector having a steadyprogressive movement will pass through the distance between the keys ina given time. Now, upon viewing the figures it will be seen that each ofthe keys is provided with an inclined plane, as 00, so that if thefinger should touch upon any part of the inclined plane (the sectormoving in the direction of the arrow) its movement would be arrestedwhen the finger was at the bottom of the plane, and as these distancesare approximately exact the sector would be arrested at a fixed pointand the finger would have for its next stopping-place a fixed anddeterminate distance, which, by its co-operation with the key-bar,automatically operates to produce a fixed stopping and starting pointwith each movement of the sector forward. As shown in Fig. 9, thekey-bar may be constructed with two inclined planes, so that shouldthefinger pass over one and strike the in g a fixed combination ofelectrical impulses,

in combination with the armature lever of an electro magnet, arranged toarrest and release the sector, and having a single finger provided witha roughened device to co-operate with thesolid key-bars, and therebyarrestits movement by frictional pressure.

2. In an electric signaling apparatus, a wheel or sector, having anormal forward progressive movement, and provided with a me chanicalarrangement of solid keys, formed in' the shape of an inclined planewith a shoulder at the end of the plane, in combination with thearmature lever of an electro magnet provided with a single finger tocooperate with the inclined plane and shoulder of the key=bars andthereby secure a fixed starting and stopping place with each movement ofthe finger.

Signed at Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, this 23d day ofApril, A. D. 1894.

BENJAMIN PRICE.

\Vitnesses:

J W. WIDDEMAUF, H. IVIAOCARTI-IY.

